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Living in Athens with CF Recommended ?

Question
I have an 11 year old daughter with CF and we live in Abu Dhabi, UAE, but we may come to live in Athens, I am worried about the air pollution, we will be living in the hills outside Athens.

Also Gala has just started to take Ivacaftor as she has the G551 mutation, is this going to be available to her in Athens?



thanks for your help

J.
Answer
Dear questioner,
I gave your question to one of our Greek CF experts, Dr. Katsoulakis, who answered as follows:

"There are three greek patients with the G551 mutation and two of them are on said medication (Ivacaftor). The drug is imported in Greece and there is a local representative here in Athens. Therefore, I do not foresee any problems with drug availability.
The climate in Athens in very appropriate for CF. The air pollution, especially in the suburbs, is not an issue. In wintertime the only problem is the excessive use of wood in fireplaces in some regions.

Best regards,

Kostas Katsoulakis"

Dr. Daniela d'Alquen (Coordinator of the Central English Archive of ECORN-CF)
17.03.2014